It should come as no surprise at this point, yet it still stings to the core. Recently, Masami Yamamoto, producer of influential titles like Bloodborne, announced his departure from Sony, marking yet another major players in the industry leaving Sony Japan Studio. At the moment, details are unclear about the reason for his leaving, but it doesn't seem as though there is any bad blood between Yamamoto and Sony. Fans that have been keeping up with developments at Sony Japan Studio will know that this is not the first higher up to leave, as several others have already done so before Yamamoto.
For those unaware, Sony recently revealed its desire to "reorganize" Sony Japan Studio. At the time, fans didn't really know what this meant, but it's becoming clearer and clearer as time goes on. Over the past several months, a variety of top employees that also worked on Bloodborne from Sony Japan Studio have shared their resignations publicly. In all of these cases, they remain rather vague about the reason for their departure and where they might be going next.
This time, Masami Yamamoto is moving on to new things. In his tweet explaining the situation, Yamamoto explains that his job at a first-party developer was "full of happiness," but then goes on to talk about his future for a bit. Notably, he points out that he can now make games for any platform he wishes, an interesting and exciting thought to be sure. This announcement actually comes a bit late too, as his last day with the company was February 28th.
Just as with other Sony Japan Studio developers to leave, fans offer up overwhelming support. Aside from Bloodborne, Yamamoto was also well known for franchises like Tokyo Jungle, Soul Sacrifice, and Freedom Wars. Fans of his various projects all thank him for his hard work and wish him the best of luck with wherever he opts to go next. It seems clear that he'll continue to work on creating video games, but where his future lies remains uncertain. Many of the other employees from Sony Japan Studio went off to form a new studio of their own called Bokeh Game Studio, so some conjecture that he is also going to join this group.
Ultimately, there's no way to know what the future holds, so fans will simply need to be patient and wait. Before long, Yamamoto and other developers will likely find new companies to work for and their talents will continue to shape the gaming community. In terms of Bloodborne, it seems as though the likelihood of a Bloodborne 2 is getting slimmer by the minute, but all hope is not yet lost.
Bloodborne is avaialable now on PS4.
Source: Yamamoto/Twitter